


The One Time I Did

by agdhani



Category: Black Sails
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-02
Updated: 2016-04-02
Packaged: 2018-05-30 18:43:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6436018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agdhani/pseuds/agdhani
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>a 5+1 challenge...<br/>Spoilers for anyone who has not seen all of Season 3</p>
    </blockquote>





	The One Time I Did

**Author's Note:**

> a 5+1 challenge...  
> Spoilers for anyone who has not seen all of Season 3

His damn smug face, so convinced that his way was the only way for Nassau to survive. Arguing with so few words as she decided the island’s fate, her love and disdain for him all at once evident in the way she weighed the import of his words against the truth of mine. His eyes on me…burning…daring me to action.

I almost said it then.

His cocky self-assurance as he sat on the wooden chair beside me, the manacles on his wrists making him no less the king I was beginning to see in him. A man of action, yes, unrefined by the standards of the world in which I had been raised, but a man just as wise in his own way, his words as poignant and well-spoken as any diplomat’s could be.

Trophy my ass.

Maybe I should have been.

I almost said it then.

The pull of the oars in our hands, feeling the brush of his broad shoulder against mine as we rowed away from Charlestown as it burned, our joint legacy that spoke of two men not so easily defeated when we worked together instead of against one another. Together. The way it should have been. Why had we fought against one another for so long?

We reached the ship and reached for the slippery rope ladders dangling over the hull as the ship rocked against the recoil of the cannons.

I almost said it then.

We parted then, our paths towards the same end manipulating us to run the gauntlet in different directions, but always with the knowledge that we were now on the same side. Save Nassau. Rebuild the haven for our people it should have always been.

How could we have known she would return, drawing with her the sword of retribution England has held over our heads since…when? Since the day Thomas was taken? Maybe before. I don’t know any more. The when has been lost to the fog of painful demons I try each night to forget. How could we not have known that her return meant an exile for him that I was not there to shield him from?

How could I know that our meeting again would be in the shadow of a mentor of overpowering legend? My brashness, my need to have those ships, the need of him at my side…I should have trusted that, when the choice was offered…my life for that of the only father he had ever known…he would choose Nassau…he would choose me.

Battle won, our eyes locked.

I almost said it then.

Three lives and a treasure. He gave us time to free the lure that the English governor would bite for. Once more we exchanged a look, a glance no longer than the span of a heartbeat for it was all that could be spared in that moment. His frantic effort to free Rackham while I took the treasure away. I should have stayed. I should have done more…but damn if his wisdom didn’t win one more time. He was giving me the chance at the future I had given my whole life to win.

I almost said it then.

That little family, our little family, was, perhaps, ultimately more important to him than the battle for Nassau, then the treasure we sought. I think now, as the flames lick the pyre and smoke and firefly embers caress and kiss the night above a turbulent, restless sea, that family was an anchor he sought for but never found. Would he have given all of this up if I had asked?

Sometimes I think maybe.

But he was a damn stubborn man…more like me than I realized until the end, until the moment Teach brought me the news. To free every man in Nassau…to free the island itself…to give me one more shot at the victory I needed…

They can’t kill us all…

No, the internal voice screams as the bottle of rum I held was released to collide with the burning logs, causing flames to spit into the air as if one final breath.

His final breath.

They can’t kill us all…but damn it, Vane…why did they have to take you?

Because there was no one better to start a revolution, to change the hearts of men…the way he changed mine.

Damn it, Vane…did you even know I love you?


End file.
